


Tea for More Than Two

by hilandmum



Category: Mary Poppins - P. L. Travers, POTTER Beatrix - Works
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 07:32:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4657950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hilandmum/pseuds/hilandmum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mary Poppins reads a mash-up bedtime story</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea for More Than Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scribblemyname](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/gifts).



> Seeing your requests, I couldn't resist doing this crossover. I hope it meets with your approval, scribblemyname

One evening in the middle of summer, as lights began to dim all up and down Cherry Tree Lane, at number seventeen, Mary Poppins tucked Jane and Michael into their beds and turned to tend to the twins.

“Mary Poppins, please tell us a story,” Jane pleaded with their nanny.

Michael nodded from his own bed. “Yes, Mary Poppins. We need a story. I want to hear Peter Rabbit, please.” 

The nanny looked from one to the other. “I haven't agreed to read anything to you yet. The impertinence of telling me what the story shall be.”

Jane ignored her. “Tell us Jemima Puddleduck, she's better than Peter Rabbit.”

“No, Peter Rabbit is the best,” Michael insisted.

Mary Poppins sighed. “Well, I suppose one story wouldn't hurt.”

Michael bounced up and down on his bed, while Jane was more ladylike, sitting up against her pillow, her blue eyes big and round.

“Once there was a mischievous rabbit named Peter. While Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail obeyed their mother and stayed out of the nearby garden, Peter slipped under the fence.

“Oh, Peter, come join me for tea,” Old McDonald said. He'd set up a table in the middle   
of his farm, and it was spread with fine china and cloth napkins.

“No, no.” Michael interrupted the story. “That's not how it goes. It's Mr. MacGregor, not Old McDonald. He and his farm are in another story altogether. Peter's mother told him to stay out of Mr. MacGregor's garden.”

“Did you want to hear a story or not?” Mary Poppins pursed her lips the way she did when she wouldn't brook any arguments. “Now where was I? Oh, yes.

Peter looked over the spread of food on the table. There were radish sandwiches and small squares of carrot cake with the little candy carrots decorating the top and...”

“No, no, no!” Michael shouted. “Tell the story the right way, Mary Poppins. Who ever heard of radish sandwiches? We always have cucumber sandwiches for our tea.”

“But this isn't your tea, now is it?” Mary Poppins glared at him.

“Yes, Michael. Let Mary Poppins tell this story. I like it. Of course Peter Rabbit would like radish sandwiches and carrot cake.” Jane smiled at the nanny. “Please continue, Mary Poppins.” 

“Thank you, Jane. But I've lost...oh, yes.

So, Peter Rabbit joined Old MacDonald for tea. But it wasn't long before someone else approached.

“Have either of you seen my eggs?” Jemima Puddleducks' bonnet was askew and she sounded frantic.

“See, I knew she'd show up.” It was Jane's turn to interrupt, but she was quickly silent.

“No, I haven't seen them, Jemima, but won't you join us? I have some corn cakes somewhere.” Old MacDonald snapped his fingers and another plate appeared on the table. 

“I should look for my eggs, but those look delicious. How can I resist?” She pulled up a chair and used her beak to spear one of the cakes.

Peter meanwhile was enjoying his radish sandwiches. He didn't think about bringing any of the treats back to Flopsy, Mopsy or Cottontail.

“Would you care for a piece of my carrot cake?” Old MacDonald asked the rabbit. 

“I hope it's as crunchy as these sandwiches.” He ate the last bite of radish.

“These corn cakes have lots of delicious kernels.” Jemima picked them out and ate them quickly.

“This is a boring story, not as exciting as the real ones.” Michael turned his back on Mary Poppins.

“What did you expect?” she asked. “I'm just beginning.”

“Don't listen to him, Mary Poppins. He's too impatient. Go on. I want to hear more.”

“Thank you, Jane. So...

As he became fuller and fuller Peter popped a button on his coat. His long front teeth bit into a piece of carrot cake and a glob of icing fell. Nothing ever tasted so good and he ignored what was happening. Luckily, who should show up but his little cousin, Benjamin Bunny. 

The little bunny immediately told him to remove the blue jacket and set to work mending the button and cleaning the stains. As he did, Old MacDonald's table expanded to accommodate even more radish sandwiches and an entire carrot cake just for Benjamin.

“This mending is hungry work.” Benjamin ate one sandwich and then another as he removed the icing from his cousin's jacket. Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle showed up as he scrubbed and brushed it, and she helped him. 

“I love Benjamin Bunny. Even more than Peter Rabbit.” Michael bounced in his bed a wide grin on his face. “And I love Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, too. I'm so glad they're in this story. It's not boring anymore. What a fun tea party. I wish ours were as much fun.”

Mary Poppins frowned at him. “If you like them so much, you'll let me finish.”

As more and more hungry visitors joined them, Old MacDonald found it harder and harder to find enough food for them all, but he was happy to feed them. Soon his table had expanded to cover one entire field of his farm. His pig and his cow joined the other guests, and so did the chickens.

The tea party was a rousing success. Everyone ate so much, they were soon very sleepy. One and then the others closed their eyes, their heads became heavy, and fell forward onto the table. Jemima's beak buried itself in a corn cake.

Just as the guests at the tea party fell asleep, Jane slid down under her blanket and her eyes closed.   
Michael, too, was soon asleep.

In the morning, they woke refreshed. When Mary Poppins came to their room to help them dress, Michael was the first to say, “I do hope you'll tell us that story again tonight.”

“What story?” the nanny asked.

“Why the one about the tea party with Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck and Benjamin Bunny and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.”

Jane grinned. “You forgot Old MacDonald and all his farm animals.”

Mary Poppins' eyes narrowed. “I have never heard of such a story. How preposterous! Now get ready for your breakfast.”

“But Mary Poppins, it was the story you told us last night before we fell asleep,” Michael insisted. 

“Nonsense. I never tell stories except for the tried and true.”

The two children looked at each other through very wide eyes. Had they both dreamed it?


End file.
